Spring baseball returning to Tucson in 2012 — kinda

Professional baseball could return to Tucson’s Kino Stadium in 2012, but it won’t be American baseball — and there are no plans for anything geared for spectators.

Stadium district officials are looking at signing a deal with two Korean League teams, the DC Dinos and the Hanwha Eagles, to train at the Kino Stadium complex next spring. It’s not exactly the Chicago White Sox and Arizona Diamondbacks, to be sure. And, in a cruel twist, there are no plans to the teams to play any public games.

There are also no announced plans for any MLB games in Tucson. Last spring, as you’ll recall, the Arizona Diamondbacks played an exhibition game at Kino Stadium as part of a local fundraiser. Since there are several spring schedules stll up in the air — the D-Backs, White Sox and San Diego Padres have not released final schedules — a game could materialize. But don’t count on it.